Condensate entrainment means



March 15, 1938, R zw c I 2,111,133

CONDENSATE ENTRAINMENT MEANS Filed July 1'7, 1954 Patented ag. 15, 1938UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE CONDENSATE ENTRAINMENT MEANS Joseph R.Zwickl, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Baldwin-Southwark Corporation, acorporation of Delaware Application July 17, 1934, Serial No. 735,662

12 Claims.

disposing of condensate by an agitating air stream which in itsagitating or atomizing function is independent of the flowoi a main airstream directed over a heat exchange element such as a condenser orevaporator.

My invention is particularly applicable to an air conditioning unithaving a condenser over which outside air is passed to cool thecompressed 15 refrigerant and an evaporator over which air from a roomor other suitable enclosure is passed for the purpose of cooling theair, or vice versa depending upon whether the unit is operating as aroom heater wherein the condenser and evaporator functions of the heatexchange elements are interchanged; One type of unit to which myinvention is particularly adapted is shown in pending application ofHenry L. Galson, Serial No. 648,772, and for purposes of simplicity itwill be consideredthat the unit herein shown is identical in everyrespect to said Galson application except for the improvements to bedescribed, 31- though it will of course be understood that my inventionis applicable to other types of units as 31) will be apparent from thedisclosure herein.

It is an object of my invention to provide improved means wherebycondensate is suitably collected so as to permit a main stream of air tobe directed over a heat exchange element while 35 an initially separatestream of air is employed to efiect disposal of the condensate, thesetwo air streams preferably finally merging before or after passing overthe heat exchange element. As a result of this improved arrangement, itis possible to obtain a condensate disposal air stream of highervelocity or pressure than is required for the main air stream. v

A further object is to provide improved means for efliciently obtainingthe flow of air for initially entraining the condensate, and a morespecific object in this respect is to utilize a main fan or blower forthe main air stream and a supplementary blower for the condensatedisposal air stream which is drawn preferably from the casing of themain blower.

Another object is to provide an improved passage for conducting air fromthe main blower to the heat exchange elements in combination with meansfor deflecting condensate out of the path 5 of the main air streamthereby to collect the condensate at a location where the supplementaryair stream may operate independently to dispose of thecollectedcondensate.

Other objects and advantages will be more ap- I parent to those skilledin the art from the following description of the accompanying drawing inwhich:

g Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through an air conditioningunit embodying my invention;

and

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section taken substantially on the line2-4 of Fig. 1, the evaporator being shown in elevation.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention which is shown hereinmerely'for the purpose'of disclosing one specific form among possibleothers that the invention might take, I have provided a unit having abase I upon which is supported a preferably vertical axis motorcompressor unit 2 and a pair of complementary heat exchange elements 3and 4. These elements for purposes of description will hereinafter bereferred to respectively as the evaporator and condenser, it beingunderstood that their construction is of usual type having longitudinalpipes 3a and 40. extending respectively through pipe fins 3b and ib.Room air is circulated over the evaporator by a fan 5 disposed in asuitable scroll casing 6, this casing having an inlet 1 communicatingwith the room air. The air is directed upwardly and then horizontallythrough suitable overlapping water deflectors 8 into an air chamber orpassage 9 beneath the evaporator, the air then flowing upwardly over theevaporator to .be cooled and discharged to the room. Moisture thatcondenses 'on evaporator 3 will'drip downwardly into the bottom ofchamber 9. Any moisture dripping down immediately above blower 5 will bedirected by deflectors 8 into the bottom of chamber 9, whereupon watermay accumulate as indicated by the liquid level It! in Fig. 2. p

A similar passage and deflector arrangement is used beneath condenserexcept that the condenser blower H is at the left end of the unit, andthe corresponding chamber 9 extends toward the right end of the unit.The chambers 9 beneath the condenser and evaporator are connected by apipe l2 to allow fluid flow in either direction depending upon whetherthe unit operates as a heater or cooler. Outside air normally flowsinwardly through a suitable opening in the room wall and thence into anopening 15 and down over compressor unit 2 and thence inwardly throughan inlet IE to blower H which circulates the air upwardly over condenser4 and discharges the same to the outside through an outlet l1.

The volume and velocity of the outside air flowing over the condenserare preferably appreciably greater than that for the room air.

which flows over the evaporator. The room air blower 5 and outside airblower may if desired be driven by a common electric motor I8 supportedupon the base The condensate is disposed of by the provision ofan airchannel [9 extending (Fig. 2) longitudinally beneath transversely spacedvertical air openings 29, 2| and 22 grouped together as a set and formedadjacent each other in the bottom of each chamber 9. These openings arerelatively short but a plurality of sets of such grouped openings arelongitudinally spaced apart as generally indicated at 23, 24 and 25,although if desired only one set may be used depending upon the .volumeof condensate to be disposed of. A deflector 26 is disposed over thecenter air passage 2| so as to direct air downwardly into adjacenttroughs 21 and 28 formed by the walls of the openings, thereby forciblyatomizing or agitating the water that flows into these troughs 21 and 28and throwing the water into the path of air flowing upwardly throughopenings 20 and 22. The water is thus thrown upwardly against theevaporator 3 to wet the surface thereof and thus increase the heattransfer efilciency of the evaporator and at the same time-washing theair.

However, due to the fact that the evaporator is cool, this'moisture willagain drip down into the chamber 9.

The liquid that accumulates in chamber 9 below the evaporator 3 willflow through pipe i2 into the chamber 9 beneath the condenser 4.

- Due to having the same structure and mode of operation in regard toair openings 20-22 and the deflectors 26, the water in the condenserchamber will be thrown up against the condenser to wet the surfacesthereof. However, due to the condenser heat, a certain proportion of thewater thrown against the condenser will be evaporated and carried awayin the stream of outside air. Due to the fact that the condensate on thecondenser side will be continuously discharged to the outsideatmosphere, it is seen that the condensate from the evaporator side willcontinuously flow over to the condenser side to be disposed of.

The air admitted to the air channels l9 may be either diverted from themain body of air from the blowers 5 and H or as is preferable, supple-.mentary blowers 30 and 3| may be employed to provide air for thechannels l9. In this event, the air may have a higher staticpressurethan the air circulated by blowers 5 and II thus permitting'suitablecirculation of the main body of a condenser and evaporator, then themoisture which condenses from the outside air on the heat exchangeelement 4 will flow over to beneath the other element 3 (now functioningas a condenser) to be discharged into the path of room air by thecondenser heat, thus humidifying the room air.

' 'If desired,.theair channel l9 and the condensate disposal openingsand deflectors associated therewith may be employed only beneath thecondenser in which event only the supplementary blower 3| would be used.The condensate from the evaporator would accumulate in the bottom ofchamber 9 in the manner as previously described and would flowimmediately through the connecting pipe l2 to the chamber beneath thecondenser to be disposed of by the condenser heat or to be carried outby the high velocity of the condenser air.

From the'foregoing disclosure, it is seen that I have provided anextremely efiective means for disposing of condensate to an outsidestream of air by utilizing air under an appreciable pressure or velocityas compared to the pressure of a main body of air circulated through theunit.

It will of course be understood that various changes in details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts may be madeby those skilled in theart without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth inthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. An air conditioning unit comprising, in combination,a heat exchangeelement, a blower and a main passage for circulating air over saidelement, means forming an air passage separate from said other passagebut communicating therewith, means whereby air is supplied to saidseparate passage, means for accumulating liquid, and means whereby airsupplied through said separate passage causes accumulated liquid to bedischarged into the flow of air in said main passage.

2. An air conditioning unit comprising in comfrom said other passage,means for accumulating liquid, and means rendered operative by airsupplied through said separate passage for discharging the accumulatedliquid into the flow of air over said element at a point in advance ofsaid element.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in thatthe means for causing discharge of liquid into the air flow includesmeans for breaking up the liquid so that it may be carried away by saidair flow.

5. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterzed in thatsaid means for causing discharge of liquid into the air flow includesmeans for agitating the liquid and forcing the same into said flow ofair over said element.

6. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in thatthe means for causing discharge of liquid into the air flow includes airopenings in the bottom of the liquid accumulating means to permitcommunication between said '1. An air conditioning unit comprising, incombination, a heat exchange element, a blower, a passage leading fromsaid blower and thence laterally beneath said element, and meansdisposed in said passage to prevent liquid from drip ping into saidblower and to causethe liquid to be deflected for accumulation in thebottom of said passage.

a. The combination s'etiorth' in claim '1 mole, characterized by theprovision oi pneumatically means located in the operated liquid disposalbottom 01 said passage, and an air channel for conducting air underpressure to said dispowl means.

9. The combination set forth in claim '1 further characterized by theprovision or pneumatically operated liquid disposal means located inthe. bottom of said passage, an air channel for condisposal means.located in e, an air channel tor conducting air under pressure tosaiddispo l means. and a secondblowertor supplying air to the channelfor the liquid disposal means.

11. The combination set forth in claim 7 further characterized by theprovision or pneumatically operated liquid disposal means located in thebottom of said passage, an air channel for conducting air .underpressure to said disposal means, a second blower for supplying air tothe passage cally operated liquid for said disposal means, and meanswhereby said second blower receives air from the first blower.

12. An air conditioning unit comprising, in combination, a heat exchangeelement, means for circulating air over said element including a passageextending beneath the same, means for accumulating liquid in the bottomof said passage, and pneumatic means for disposing of the liquid bydischargin it into the path 01 air flowing over said element. 1

JOSEPH R. ZWICKL.

